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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Galaxy S4

Galaxy S4

The
brand-new flagship smartphone, which runs the latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly
Bean, improves upon its predecessor. And by
super-sizing the screen and packing in so much specialized software, the
GS4 sets itself even farther apart from the iPhone. The Galaxy
S4 has the same design as the S3, but the screen is now 5
inches, the resolution upped to 1080p, a much higher battery capacity 2,600mAh, with a faster processor,
and a higher mega pixel rear-facing camera. But it's the
software that Samsung has been pushing. There are a few features that you would be
hard-pressed not to want. The IR blaster is one of these (the HTC One
has this, too), speech-to-text and text-to-speech translator,
and eye-tracking and
gesture technology that let you pause a video automatically when
you look away and let you hover your finger over an item to preview it.

Samsung also showed off a new feature during the S4 release known as S Voice Drive. This feature
will let drivers make calls, send messages, and check the weather.

The S4 has the same edges and
physical home button as the Galaxy S3, but it's lighter and thinner, at 7.9mm thick
and 130g. The GS4 is part polycarbonate (making it a higher build quality than the S3) but it isn't as classy as the all-metal HTC One or the iPhone 5. Samsung refuses to give up plastic for a few reasons, including
durability and price.

Updated Notification Tray

The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch HD
Super AMOLED display. It packs a now standard 1920x1,080 pixel resolution with 441 ppi. The Galaxy S4 uses a special
sensitive screen that lets you use it even when you're wearing
gloves. Located above the screen are the new Atmel Sensors along with the other usual sensors and the 2-megapixel front-facing
camera. Below the screen is the physical home button, with the usual capacitive
menu and back buttons. The new IR blaster is located on the top of the device, near the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The Galaxy S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung's Touch Wiz overlay. Samsung uses TouchWiz to add a whole new host of software enhancements, like
gestures, and a larger notifications tray that offers more settings
toggling than stock Android does. Samsung also introduces the S
Translator tool with TouchWiz 2.0. It is integrated with e-mail and ChatOn. ChatOn now includes three-way video calling, screen-sharing, and video calls
that make use of both cameras.
Another noteworthy feature is Group Play. It lets you connect to other Galaxy S4 devices to share
music, photos, documents, and even play multiplayer games. Gun Bros 2 and Asphalt 7 have been adapted for the new Group Play feature.
Also included with the Galaxy S4 is S Health, a
calorie-counter/pedometer that uses phone sensors like the
accelerometer and barometer combined with a Samsung-branded
fitness wrist band.Eye-tracking gestures
Smart Pause and Smart Scroll are two
features that build off the Galaxy S3's optional Smart Stay feature,
which kept the screen from dimming when you looked at it. In the GS4,
tilting the screen up or down while looking at it scrolls you up or
down. The new Smart Pause feature pauses and resumes video depending on whether or not you're looking at the screen.

Air View and gestures

Hover your finger to preview a video clip or image from the
photo gallery, glance at browser tab thumbnails, find your place on a
video timeline, and check out an e-mail. You'll also be able to magnify
calendar events and get a closer look in speed dial. Flipboard has built
a customized app to work with Air View, which lets you hover over a
tile to see which articles lie beneath.
You can also wave or wipe your whole hand in front of the
screen to pick up a phone call or switch
songs in a playlist. Sliding your hand back and forth can go through photos in a gallery, or browser tabs. You can also scroll up and
down in a list.Cameras and video
Samsung is
hoping that its refreshed interface and enhanced features will impress. Perhaps
the most out-there is the dual-shot mode, which takes photos and video
from both the front- and rear-facing cameras, and combines them into one
(LG's Optimus G Pro does this, too.)Even more new modes include Sound & Shot, which takes a picture
and captures up to 9 seconds of audio (similar to HTC's Zoe), and Drama Shot, which combines all the actions from a burst shot
into a single frame. If someone is jumping you see all
stages of the leap in one shot (The HTC One also has this)

Performance
The Galaxy S4 will either come from a 1.9GHz
quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series processor, or from a 1.6GHz eight-core chipset, Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa core processor depending on your location. The Galaxy S4 will also support LTE. The phone has a large, 2,600mAh battery. In
terms of storage and memory, the Galaxy S4 has 2GB RAM, 64GB internal
storage, and another 64GB available through the microSD card slot.

This phone will be sure to make waves and disrupt other company's phone share. This may also be the phone that will finally unseat Apple. Many of its features are slightly gimmicky, but they function. If Samsung can refine its new features it may change the way we look at mobile phones.